THE doors to a gateway to York Walls have opened today (April 1) for a preview of the new City Walls Experience at Micklegate Bar, the newest visitor attraction from the team behind JORVIK Viking Centre.

The new attraction, within the gatehouse of Micklegate Bar, offers visitors an introduction to the places and periods of York’s famous city walls, how York came to be a walled city and how the walls have evolved and changed since the first embankments were built by the Romans, highlighting the bars and most significant sections of the walls that visitors can see and visit today.

The top floor features a central map with displays highlighting the features from different periods in history that are still visible today, as well as those that have been lost to time. A screen displays an innovative flight around the city walls, created using Google Maps.

“York’s walls are one of the top attractions in the city, with tens of thousands of people walking parts of them every day to see the city from a different angle. City Walls Experience at Micklegate Bar is the perfect drop-in point at the start, end or even midway around the walls to learn a little more about the history of the most complete set of city walls in the country,” said director of attractions, Sarah Maltby.

Visitors will also learn about historic characters who have links to Micklegate Bar, which was historically the main entrance to the city for anyone arriving from the south, and particularly, the gate through which visiting Royals would pass. From Royalty to soldiers and even a policeman who took up residence here, video presentations bring their stories to life.

Alongside visits to the attraction, the Micklegate Bar team will be running guided tours around part of the walls and the streets which they enclose to more of the history behind the fortifications. An accessible version of the tour will also be available for anyone unable to get onto the walls as well as enhancements for those people with additional needs. The tours will run throughout the summer until the end of October, when the City Walls Experience will also close for the winter.

City Walls Experience replaces the Henry VII Experience, which opened in 2014 and operated until Covid restrictions prompted its closure in 2020. Its sister attraction, the Richard III Experience at Monk Bar currently acts as a virtual hub from where livestreamed sessions about York’s heritage are beamed across the world to schools and visitors joining online events. Monk Bar itself will be open for exclusive tours in the summer.

The attraction officially opens tomorrow (April 2).